Saturday, December 31, 2011

No, this is not the typical polish and/or pigments posting but seeing as how there are a lot of cat ladies in the blog-world, this is a good a place as any.

Who doesn't see the Humane Society or animal shelter/cruelty commercials on TV? You know the ones, where they show all the poor abused and abandoned cats and dogs no one gives a crap about? Personally, when I pay attention to these, I cry because it breaks my heart, it makes me want to go donate every dime I have because these places are criminally under-funded. It makes me want to run straight to the shelter and adopt every one, particularly the cats.

On average, animals are given 7-14 days in a shelter to be adopted before being euthanized but did you know that while dogs may get several days, cats get far less, are lucky to get two days? This is something my vet told me when he checked out my last cat. And just like people wanting to adopt babies over older children, animals over one year old are almost impossible to place in homes, regardless of good behavior. If the animal is sick or otherwise ill, forget it.

Every pet we ever had when I was growing up, all dogs, were strays found on the road that some other *** decided to dump, even a litter of puppies one time. A family member was once one of these ***, deciding to dump a dog and a cat off in the middle of nowhere (might I point out that they had two other cats that were kept). As an adult, I now have three cats in an 1000 square foot apartment, 1 cat over the technical limit but I have a decent manager who allows it. All three of my cats were abandoned strays, my oldest male and little female found abandoned in my complex and the second male found as a 12 week old kitten outside my husband's work. Each one was vet-checked, fixed and is now a fat and happy cat.

There are strays everywhere and every time you see one, providing it is not feral and is catch-able, you have a choice you make whether you consciously recognize it or not: ignore the animal because it's not your problem, call animal control and perhaps give it a death sentence or take the animal in, love it and give it a life. No, it's not possible to save every single one but it's entirely possible to save at least one. What are you waiting for? -MK

Monday, December 26, 2011

I've had many designs for my blog. While I will never consent to using backgrounds and the such that are provided by Blogger when I'm an artist & can create my own, their layout options aren't bad.... but I am not satisfied with the one I am using currently. I like the white on black theme, I think it helps set me apart from most other blogs out there, not that it's a competition but I was never big on blending in cyberspace. What does bother me is that the "gadgets" as they are called, are to the right of my entries which limits their space and forces everything below them to be much farther down. Moving them above the entries ruins the appearance and moving them below means everyone would have to scroll way down the page to ever see them. This is an irritation and one I haven't resolved satisfactorily.

Appearance wise, it probably does not help that everything is scaled to appear properly on my monitor which is set to 1440 x 900 (it was, at one time, my husband's gaming monitor). On his current one, which is 1920 x 1080, it looks even more screwed up.

No one comments on my design and that's ok, it's not like I take it personally but this time opinions would be more than welcome. Is the white-on-black distracting to your reading? Would a certain gadget look better or be easier to find if placed somewhere else? Is the search box really necessary? And what about all those other cool blogs I want to have showing, where could they go other than where they already are? Any and all feedback will be duly noted!

I launched a second blog for the purpose of tweaking design without the risk of screwing this one up. Even if you are so inclined, don't bother to follow it. I am aware it will appear somewhere, even if it is only in my profile and dashboard. Thank you- MK

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Today is Christmas Eve but it looks like it will not be a white Christmas around here. That's ok with me though, we're all sick in my house and I haven't even decorated. Boo Hoo! Thankfully my boys are beyond the age of Santa Claus. While my family sniffs and coughs, here's wishing the rest of you good health and even better holidays!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

This is intended as a follow up to October's entry I Have a Project for You which was about the color shifting flakes in some of our most popular polishes.

In October, I gave you all the assignment of looking at the ingredients list of your flakie polishes and reporting back the unusual which you did; some of you apparently did your own research on the subject as well. This generated lots of suggestions and ideas but no solid answers.

Thanks to other women's blogs and the internet, I was able to find ingredients lists to these flakies- Sally HansenHidden Treasure, Nubar2010, a brand called Joe with their polish Twilight, Coastal Scents' solitary Cosmic, my own polish Covered in Diamonds from Studio M, and finally a generalized list from Nfu Oh. I compared them side by side, looked up and identified every ingredient but found there to be no relevant or potential one that they all had in common. Rather than narrowing the field, this left it wide open. The general consensus seems to be that these mysterious flakes, rather than being polyester based like glitter, are likely some form of coated mica flakes but I haven't been able to confirm this. This is made more likely by the fact that TKB Trading’s Travel to’s are mica coated with titanium dioxide (a whitener), Silica, and Tin Oxide. Their Star Bites and Moon Dusts, also duochromes, have similar composition.

Out of frustration, I eventually emailed Nubar and Nfu Oh regarding the flakes but as expected (and two months later), I still haven't gotten a response, not even a generic one. I had also emailed the owner of BlingFlake who seemed quite willing to assist and have his brain picked but he didn't respond either. Good job ignoring customers there people. That’s a real turn off.

I have continued to do research and hunt for possible flakes for purchase but have found only the same link each time, one that a lot of you has also found.

The company, Guangzhou Sheng Zhu Daily Pigments Co., Ltd., is a manufacturer in China that makes irregular mica flakes "specially formulated for nail polish" and by description, many of these color shift. They have a chemical composition similar to the pigments mentioned above. However, being that they are a manufacturer, the minimum order is 1 kilogram which is a lot for end consumers like us- 1 kilogram works out to be slightly over 2 pounds for us Americans.

I'm now working on motivating a company to buy these for resale so go check out the flakes at this link and tell me what you think. More importantly, exclaim long and loud about how you love duochrome flakie polishes and would love to buy the dry flakes for yourself, if only we could find the things. The point of this? It's an investment and regardless of a company's buying power, they aren't going to buy unless they believe the demand is great enough and there's money to be made. Remember, we're trying to influence companies here.

While I wait for a response to my product suggestion/request, I emailed Guangzhou Sheng Zhu Daily Pigments Co., Ltd. myself and requested further information, possibly pricing if they are willing to speak with me. We shall see. -MK

Thursday, December 15, 2011

By now I’m sure it’s obvious that I really like greens and blues since most of my posted franken polishes are one or the other… Well, here’s another- Franken #420 Peacock. It's not Christmas-y at all but looks even more spectacular under lower lighting like Christmas lights.

All the following photos were taken over a few days because Day 1 decided not be sunny. Day 3 provided the sun for better pics but I spent the morning cleaning out bottles with remover so I'm showing some abnormal tip wear and silver smudges. Peacock has been layered over Sally Hansen (Xtreme Wear) Black Out. The glitter has a low profile and applied surprisingly smooth, needing a topcoat only for extra gloss.

Sunlit bottle shot

Under daylight lamp. Inset shows macro shot of glitter.

Day 1, lamplight

Day 3, indirect daylight

Day 3, early morning sun

Day 3, afternoon sunlight

I left this photo blurry because it happens to be the only one that shows how sparkly this really is. It’s an indoor shot but in sunlight.

Apparently this one was underwhelming for most of you so I'm adding the brief video clip I had initially decided not to include. The video is located here on YouTube. -MK

Sunday, December 11, 2011

This is a follow up to Color Shifting Pigments Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 focused on House of Kolor chameleon flakes from the automotive industry while Part 2 encompassed other brands of automotive flakes. Part 3 should include all cosmetic pigments/shadows and where you can buy them but people's ideas of "duochrome" vary so much that unless I own them or someone else does and reviews them, I can't say for certain that they do indeed have color shifting properties. Like all shopping online, you make the decision to buy based on a picture and a description but the accuracy of these greatly varies as well. I think if a company wants to sell me on it, they better show me the color shift in transition. That being said, here's what I've gathered so far.

As far as I'm concerned TKB Trading was already tops in the duochrome category because of the Travel to pigments, or the Planetary Sampler as the set is called but with the addition of the Star Bites and Moon Dusts, I don't know who else can compete with the selection.

In the Star Bite Collection are three colors, Shanika Sun, Marinda Star and Cherika Moon- larger particle size, about 100-260 microns. They can be purchased as samples and 1 oz sizes, individually or in sets. Their description reads:

Shanika Sun shifts from gold to green to blue

Marinda Star shifts from red to orange to yellow

Cherika Moon shifts blue to purple to red orange.

Samples, 1 teaspoon, are $2.95 individually, a set of three for $6.00.
1 oz bags are $15.00 each ($.53/gram) or $35.00 as a set- $.41/gram.

If you want a better idea of the duochrome, Kitties26 of More Nail Polish showed us the Star Bites fantastic color shifting with her Duochrome Top Coats #2, #3 and #4.

The Moon Dust Collection has five colors: Aisha Gold, Crescent Crimson, Indu Rose, Lavender Luz, and Luna Blue. The particle size is finer and thus less sparkly than the Star Bites. They can be purchased as samples and 1 oz sizes, individually or in sets.
Their description reads:

Aisha Gold shifts from gold to green to blue

Crescent Crimson shifts from red to orange to yellow

Indu Rose shifts indigo to purple to red

Lavender Luz shifts from blue to purple to orange

Luna Blue shifts from cyan to blue to red

Samples, 1 teaspoon, are $2.95 individually, a set of five for $12.00.
1 oz bags are $15.00 each ($.53/gram) or $59.00 as a set- $.42/gram.

Finally and more familiar to most of us is the Planetary Sampler which contains the seven Travel to pigments Mercury, Mars, Earth, Venus, Neptune, Jupiter and Pluto. Like the sets above, they can be purchased as samples and 1 oz sizes, individually or in sets. Their description reads:

These pigments are less expensive than the others. Purchased in a set, 1 ounce is $12.00 versus $14.00 ($.50/gram) if purchased separately. The set is $85.00, bringing the price down to $.43 per gram. Samples are $1.50 each or $9.00 as a set.

If you haven't already seen these as swatches, you can view mine here dry and in polish here.

The Travel to(s) were a nice segue away from TKB Trading because The Conservatorie also sells these pigments (with original manufacturer names). They are not sold in sets but are priced $33.95 for 100 grams, $/gram or $1.45 for a sample.

Indian Summer (Mercury)

Volcanic Fire (Mars)

Kiwi Rose (Earth)

Magic Mauve (Venus)

Caribbean Blue (Neptune)

Nordic Sunset (Pluto)

Golden Sky (Jupiter)

Pure Luxe Cosmetics also sells the Travel to pigments but under different names, in smaller quantities and under the name of the Kaleidoscope Collection (but not sold as a set). I am making the correlation here between the Travel to's and these based on Pure Luxe pictures/descriptions and the Travel to(s) I own.

Visions (Mercury)

Faceted (Mars)

Luster (Earth)

Prismatic (Venus)

Mirage (Neptune)

Illusion (Pluto)

Oasis (Jupiter)

Does Fyrinnae qualify for a indie company? At any rate, though I have never purchased anything from the company, it is my understanding that Fyrinnae has a rather expansive line of color shifting eyeshadows under the collection name of Arcane Magic. The website shows 18 colors currently, with pictures and descriptions. $6.80 each for a full size jar containing 3 grams.

A more recent entry is You Mix Cosmetics. On this date, 1/23/14, the store is closed, soon to reopen. When it does, I'll update the information but until then consider this outdated and for reference only.

The color shifting glitter is available (as of the original date this entry was posted) in two colors and these are sold as 2 grams for $5.00, $2.50/gram. Following the links here and below show some of them to be "on hold" which I take to mean "out of stock", will update when/if they become available.
Green to Gold
Blue/Gold/Red - On Hold
Purple/Green/Blue - On Hold

The color shifting pigments were available in 9 colors, and were sold as 1 gram for $5.00. I'm leaving the list intact in hopes these will become available again.
Blue/Red
Red/Gold
Gold/Green/Blue
Pink/Gold
Red/Gold/Green
Violet/Blue
Blue/Green/Gold
Purple to Gold
Blue/Violet

I somehow neglected to mention Glitter Unique for duochrome pigments. At the moment there are 6 colors, green to blue, violet to gold, violet to blue, red to violet to blue, red-green flip, and green to blue to purple.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

To Thalie herself, thank you very much for thinking of me when passing on this award. I do consider myself rather versatile but that doesn't come through much on my blog so its nice to know I wasn't too far off base. I only know a lot about a few things but I know a little about a lot more.

This award (like most others) comes with a few rules.

1.) List 7 things about yourself.
2.) Pass this on to 15 other bloggers.

Number 1 is really the easy part. Everyone knows I love nail polish, music and art so I'm going to tell you some lesser known things.

1. I'm 33 years old, I havn't worn make up regularly since I was 25 and haven't worn any for the last few years.

2. I never read the sappy romantic passages in books, fast forward through them in movies and don't generally listen to those kinds of songs. I'm a cynic, that crap doesn't exist.

3. I have a whole closet full of dress clothes, fancy dresses and shoes but rarely wear any of it. And I still have my prom dress from when I was 16.

4. I have three cats, two males and one female. I acquired all 3 in less than a year... and I used to be a dog person- of rottweilers and bulldogs. Anyone else notice that a lot of nail polish and makeup bloggers are cat lovers? Coincidence?

5. I do not have and have never had a drivers license... but I own a car... from 1987. Funny, isn't it?

6. When my son was little he brought home a easy-reader kid's book his teacher had given him and he gave it to me. He didn't know it but it just happened to be one of my favorite books when I was little about a caterpillar named Gus that turns into a butterfly. I once drew that butterfly on my Grandma's back.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Between Ester's Nail Center & eBay more recently, I've acquired a lot of glitters intended for nail art. I am not any sort of nail artist, my purpose in buying them was for frankening but unfortunately, not a single one can withstand long term submersion in nail polish which makes them have absolutely no value to me. The point being, if there are any takers, I'd like to sell them off and and be done with it.

The picture(s) below are exactly what I'm offering, nail art glitter in three sizes/shapes- tinsel, large hex, small hex and a few colors in a sqaure cut. They are very pretty and iridescent, most have a color shifting/duochrome quality. Because these are from several sets, there are multiple containers of the same color and the large hex containers are crammed full. Again, there's nothing wrong with them, they just don't have any practical application in my house. The lighting is off on the pic but sorry, once again it is raining so no sun, will update pictures when there is. $20.00 buys it all, quite a bit less than what I ended up paying but as I said, I just want to get rid of them. USPS (postal service) would be the carrier, Flat Rate Shipping, whatever's cheapest. Interested? Leave a message here or email me at sj.1996@yahoo.com.